[White in China]

Students protesting against Covid restrictions at Tsinghua University in Beijing. 

Obtained by Reuters

From: "Memes, Puns and Blank Sheets of Paper: China’s Creative Acts of Protest," by Chang Che and Amy Chang Chien, The New York Times, Nov. 28, 2022 Updated 1:41 p.m. ET 

Excerpt: 

The wave of protests in at least a dozen cities erupted after a fire in the far western region of Xinjiang on Thursday killed 10 people by official count, a toll that many suspected was linked to Covid restrictions that have confined people to their homes. Demonstrators used the white sheets to mourn those lost — white is a common funeral color in China — and to express an anger understood implicitly by millions who have suffered under pandemic restrictions. ...

Some protesters told The New York Times that the white papers took inspiration from a Soviet-era joke, in which a dissident accosted by the police for distributing leaflets in a public square reveals the fliers to be blank. When asked, the dissident replies that there is no need for words because “everyone knows.” ...